Hat Tricks Top Prowlers in Offensive Affair

The Port Huron Prowlers dropped a back-and-forth Friday night matchup with the Danbury Hat Tricks 5-4 at McMorran Place. The win pulled Danbury within one point of Port Huron for third place in the Empire Division.

“We have some guys that are on their own page out there,” said Prowlers head coach Matt Graham. “We have some guys playing selfish hockey. We preach strongly the concept of team and defense first, but we have guys vacating the [defensive] zone early, guys cheating for offense in the [offensive] zone, [defensemen] coming down the wall. A lot of selfish hockey out there tonight and I think that’s why you end up in a 5-4 loss.”

Reid Cooper was making his Prowlers’ debut in net but he had a rough start as he went to play the puck in the corner less than two minutes in. Cooper’s pass missed its intended target but found Connor Woolley who fired it into the vacated cage.

A few minutes later though, the Prowlers got a power play and Ludwig Thellström wired a pass from the point to the backside of the net where Joel Frazee tapped it home. It was his second man-advantage goal in as many games. Austin Fetterly gave Port Huron the lead when his shot from the high slot off a faceoff changed direction off a Hat Trick and beat Frankie McClendon.

Danbury responded later in the period on the power play as Vadim Frolov deflected home a shot from the point. 15 seconds later, Woolley had his second of the night off a wrister from the left-wing circle on a rush. That made it 3-2 Danbury heading into the break.

Both teams continued to score in the middle frame. Jake Vaughan got into the offensive zone and sent a shot on net that McClendon kicked out. Kenny Styles cleaned up the rebound for his first pro goal.

The Hat Tricks got some offensive zone time late in the period and off the cycle, Frolov found former Prowlers captain Dustin Henning sneaking down the weak side. His one-timer put Danbury back in front.

29 seconds into the third, Port Huron pulled even again. Tucker Scantlebury dipped the shoulder and drove the crease, muscling the puck over the line. A few minutes later though, Aleksandr Gamzatov won the race to a dump into Prowlers territory. He sent a back pass to Gleb Bandurkin who was the first man to the slot and he put in the game winner.

“We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” Graham said. “We talk about details and habits to nauseam at times. The standard we’re holding guys to and ourselves to is unacceptable. Going forward, we have to put higher expectations on ourselves.”

Vaughan had a pair of assists for Port Huron while Cooper made 30 saves in the loss. The four goals the Prowlers got on McClendon are their most past a goaltender in one game since Nov. 8 in Hudson Valley.

Woolley led the way with two tallies for the Hat Tricks while Frolov had a goal and a helper. Jacob Ratcliffe and Jeremy Rottke dished out a pair of assists each while McClendon made 33 stops in the victory.

The Prowlers and Hat Tricks wrap up the two-game set on Nov. 30 with puck drop at McMorran Place scheduled for 7:05 P.M. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

Photo courtesy of Delta Imaging